1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a luminaire with which interesting and appealing illumination effects can be attained, despite these effects the luminaire ensuring an optimal room illumination for work purposes.
2. Description of the Related Art
In offices or at other workplaces there are usually employed for illumination luminaires having elongate, rod-shaped light sources, for example fluorescent tubes. In order to obtain an illumination of the room which is suitable for work purposes and thereby in particular to avoid dazzling effects, there are arranged before the luminaire, in the emission direction, lamella rasters, or other means of influencing the light, with which the exit of light is restricted to a predetermined region. The employment of fluorescent lamps thereby ensures a high light yield with a relatively slight energy requirement.
Beyond this, in some cases, halogen spotlights also find employment, which consist of a low voltage halogen lamp which is surrounded by a small pot-shaped reflector. This reflector has a diameter of only a few centimetres and lends the spotlight an elegant appearance. However, in order to attain a sufficient overall brightness, the employment of many individual such halogen spotlights would be necessary.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a new type of luminaire which distinguishes itself through an elegant and appealing appearance and at the same time ensures an optimal room illumination.
This object is achieved by means of a luminaire that is constructed in accordance with the invention. The luminaire comprises, first, means for holding and electrically connecting a tube-like lamp and a back reflector, extending over the length of the lamp, which serves the purpose of reflecting a part of the light emitted from the lamp counter to a particular emission direction. Beyond this there are provided in the back reflector through-openings which serve the purpose of allowing a part of the light emitted from the lamp to pass through in the emission direction, pot reflectors adjoining onto the through-openings of the back reflector in the direction of emission.
The basic concept of the present invention thus consists in emitting the light of an individual tube-like lamp via a plurality of pot-shaped reflectors. This has on the one hand the advantage that the impression of a row arrangement of individual halogen spotlights is attained, on the other hand there can be achieved, as will be described in detail below, a multiplicity of appealing lighting effects. Beyond this, the luminaire in accordance with the invention distinguishes itself through its simple construction, since the reflector arrangement consisting of the back reflector and the pot reflectors can be formed in one piece, which can be achieved for example in that the reflector arrangement is produced in an injection molding process.
An advantageous further development of the luminaire in accordance with the invention consists in that the pot reflectors are connected with one another in their edge regions via a connection plate arranged parallel to the lamp whereby the connection plate may likewise be connected in one piece with the pot reflectors or the overall reflector arrangement. A particularly appealing optical effect can then be attained in that the connection plate itself is transparent. Namely, if a part of the light emitted from the tube-like lamp is deflected into a region outside the pot reflectors the structure can be perceived through the transparent connection plate. The bringing of light into the region outside the pot reflectors can be achieved for example in that the back reflector is at least partly light permeable. Further, there arises thereby the possibility to color the back reflector in its transparent regions, so that the connection plate appears in a altered color tone. The pot reflectors may thereby project with their light exit openings beyond the connection plate or end flush with the connection plate.
The back reflector is preferably so configured that it at least partially encompasses the lamp, in particular it may be formed to be semicircular in cross-section.
A further advantage of the luminaire in accordance with the invention consists in that a part of the light given out by the lamp is employed for indirect illumination. In particular it can be provided that a screening or filter plate is provided at the side of the lamp opposite to the pot reflectors, via which a part of the light emitted by the lamp is directed towards the ceiling of the room to be illuminated. The edge regions of this screening or filter plate may, in contrast, be formed to be reflecting, in order to make possible a deflection of a part of the light into the room surrounding the pot reflectors. Here also there exists the possibility of providing that the light permeable region of the screening or filter plate is colored, and therewith to allow the ceiling region above the lamp to appear in a different color tone.
The present invention also relates to an intermediate product for the manufacture of a luminaire, which is a one-piece injection molded part which has an elongate back reflector part which is so formed that it partly encloses an elongate hollow space, and through-openings in the back reflector part and pot reflector parts which surround the through-openings on the side of the back reflector away from the hollow space. This intermediate product forms the basic element for the above-described reflector arrangement and distinguishes itself in that it can be manufactured in a single process step by means of injection molding and thus very simply. Thereby, in the case of more complex structures, the injection molded part is demolded by means of the so-called core slide technique in which mold parts additional to the molding tool can be removed upwardly or downwardly, or to the side outwardly, that is in simple, straight-line movements. In the ideal case the injection molded part can be manufactured even with a core slide-less and thus particularly economical molding tool.